iOS 7 subsidy unlock without restore?

[VTECaddict]

My contract just ended so I requested for my 4S to be unlocked from AT&T, which was just approved.

Normally when you put in the wrong SIM in a locked iPhone it says "Invalid SIM", and in order for the unlock to take place you have to erase and restore the phone.

I popped in a T-Mobile SIM without restoring first just to see what would happen. It said "Searching..." in the upper left for a bit, then it showed the Apple boot screen and restarted. After that it showed "T-Mobile 4G".

Maybe with iOS 7 they let the phone get unlocked without restoring first? If so that's great since the whole erasing and restoring was a major pain in the butt, especially for people who are just switching carriers and not giving/selling the phone.

Anyone else confirm? I don't think this was mentioned anywhere.

 

[Zcott]

When I previously unlocked a phone I didn't have to restore it. Where did you get that from?

 

[dhlizard]

Restoring to attach an IMEI unlock has not been necessary for some time.

 

[Daveoc64]

When I previously unlocked a phone I didn't have to restore it. Where did you get that from?

It was some bizarre requirement when AT&T started offering official unlocks for their iPhones.

In other countries, it wasn't ever needed.

 

[benguild]

I usually just put a foreign SIM card in and it prompts + activates the unlocked status over Wi-Fi.